Blog

Please believe that trusting your gut is always going to lead you to make the right decisions. You are not failing them… if you are feeding them, changing them, loving them and getting them at least a basic amount of sleep then you are doing great!

A baby has six arousal states - being asleep, drowsy, hypo-aroused, calmly focused and alert, hyperaroused, then flooded. When a baby gets to the point of being hyperaroused or flooded, they are burning a lot of energy. The only way to help them out of this state is to help them down-regulate and this involves PARENTAL CONTACT/SUPPORT. It is not something that can be done by leaving a baby/child alone. They cannot up-regulate themselves or down-regulate themselves. If a parent does not help them down-regulate in their hyperaroused state, they will go up the arousal scale, become flooded, and at this point, the baby burns so much energy that they may fall asleep - NOT BECAUSE THEY SOOTHED THEMSELVES, but because they are passing out from sheer exhaustion. "It is the brain's last mechanism for protecting itself from severe energy depletion." Dr. Stuart Shanker, 2016

Lauren Heffernan is the Founder of Isla-Grace. She’s a certified Holistic Maternity & Child Sleep Consultant and Certified Sleep Educator. She provides information and support to women at different stages of motherhood, and walks each one through the personal journey to become a more confident mother.